VETERAN’S TRIBUTE RIDE HONORS MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT VICTIM

On September 5, a group of Meadville, Pennsylvania, military veterans and bikers participated in a motorcycle rally organized to pay tribute to a fallen comrade. Roughly 25 veterans on motorcycles and other supporters participated in the event. Their primary goal was to escort the family of a deceased veteran who died in a California hit-and-run accident as they recovered his remains. It remains unknown whether police in California have discovered the identity of the hit-and-run driver.

The body of the victim, a 22-year-old active-duty Marine sergeant and former resident of the Meadville-Saegertown area, was sent to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, after the young man was killed in California on Aug. 28 while riding his Suzuki GSXR motorcycle. Family members, friends and other supporters of the event gathered at a Meadville funeral home before setting off for Pittsburgh.

A former Iraq veteran helped organize the event. A limousine was provided for the victim’s family, along with a hearse for the retrieval of the young man’s body, and other assorted vehicles to help transport friends and mourners to and from the Pittsburgh International Airport.

The convoy was expected to pick up more members of other veteran’s groups wishing to participate in the ride in support of their fallen comrade. The convoy received a police escort as it left Meadville. That escort was later replaced by another out of Vernon Township as the convoy made its way down Interstate 79.

Pennsylvania motorcyclists who are hit by automobiles and larger SUVs frequently die as a result of those collisions. Other victims routinely suffer multiple fractures, spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries and other wounds which require expensive medical treatment and often result in permanent disabilities.

If you know someone who is suffering as a result of a preventable motorcycle accident, they should know that our legal system provides them with a remedy. Through civil litigation, motorcyclists injured by distracted, impaired or inattentive truck drivers may be able to recover their expenses and help them provide for their futures.